Ernest wells



E. WELLS.

BOX.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23, 1918.

1,309,499. Patented July 8, 1919.

lNVE TO (q-neat e(s A4AQATTORNEYS lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll c- ERNEST WELLS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 8, 1919;

Application filed February 23, 1918. Serial N 0. 218,663.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST l/VELLS, a subject of the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at New York, N. Y., have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boxes, of which the following is a clear, full, and exact description.

This invention relates to boxes, preferably of the pasteboard type but not necessarily. One of the objects of the invention is to provide a non-refillable box, that is to say, a box the contents of which cannot be tampered with without detection. Another object of the invention is to provide simple, efficient and practical means for rendering a box non-refillable.

A desirable embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective View of a box partly broken away to disclose the locking members when they are locked together;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 Fig. 1 showing the locking members before they are locked together;

Fig. 3 is a view of the inner side of the box proper looking toward the slide;

Fig. 4: is a perspective View of the locking members locked;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the locking member attached to the cover.

Referring to the drawings the box proper 10 is provided with a cover 11, which is hinged to the box at 12 in any suitable manner and which is adapted to inclose the side walls of the box when the cover is in closed position. Said box may be of pasteboard or of any suitable material, and when made of pasteboard the box provided with the present improvements constitute desirable means for holding candy, cakes, crackers, etc., to insure that the same has not been tampered with since the box and contents left the manufacturer.

The end wall 13 of the box proper 10 carries a plate 14, which extends longitudinally of said end wall and is guided in guides 15, 16. The said plate constitutes a slide, and is made somewhat shorter than the length of said end wall so as to permit it to have the proper amount of sliding movement. Struck up from the plate 14 is a tongue or keeper 17, the same being raised a slight distance above the surface of the plate or slide 14, and providing in said plate an opening 18 back of said tongue or keeper. By striking up the tongue or keeper 17 from the said plate or slide, an edge or surface 19 is provided at the upper rear corner of the said keeper, which may be similated to a projection or pin extending at right angles to the inner surface of the slide. In fact the said edge or surface 19, together with the keeper may be similated to a headed pln.

Slide 14 constitutes a locking member adapted to engage a locking member on the cover, the latter locking member consisting of a plate 20, which is provided with an angularly extending flange 21 which is secured in a suitable manner to the top of the cover 11 so that the said plate will extend downwardly from a point adjacent the corner formed by the top of said cover and the end wall 22 thereof. The end wall 22 is that wall which laps over the wall 13 of the box on which the slide 1 1 is mounted, when the box is closed. The tongue or keeper 17 projects toward one of the side walls of the box proper, while the plate 20 is provided with a catch projection 23, which extends laterally of the said plate in a direction toward that side wall of the cover away from which the tongue or keeper 17 extends. The said catch or projection 23 is preferably formed by providing a notch 24: in one edge of the plate 20.

The notched edge of the plate 20 is so located that when the cover is closed upon the box, the catch or projection 23 will fall behind the tongue or keeper 17, assuming that the slide 1 1 is pushed back. As the plate 20 is also preferably of sheet metal, the tongue or keeper 17 will need to be raised but slightly above the surface of the slide in order to enable the catch or projection 23 to pass behind the said keeper when the cover is closed. If a headed pin was substituted for the edge or surface 19 on the slide, the slide when moved toward its locking position would move the said pin simp1y into the notch 24., thereby locking the cover to the box proper. It is believed, however, that the construction specifically shown is preferable, in which case when the slide is moved to locking position, the keeper 17 will have a frictional engagement with the catch or projection 23, and when the parts are engaged andlocked, the said catch will project away from the edge or surface 19 in a direction opposite to that in which the keeper or tongue 17 projects. The frictional engagement of the catch and the keeper causes the catch to pass into the opening 18 in the slide and the edge or surface 19 on the slide to be located in the smaller portion of the notch 24, and the resultant friction of the said parts will provide an anti-rattling lock; that is to stay the parts of the lock cannot be unlocked by shaking the box.

An important feature of the present invention consists in the way in which the slide is operated to lock the box sections together. A string 25 is attached loosely to one end of the slide 14 and both ends of the string are then passed through a hole 26 in that wall of the box which is adjacent the advancing edge of said slide, and the said ends of said string are then passed in behind the box proper and the cover so that the said ends protrude from the box. After the box is closed the string 25 is now pulled taut so as to draw the slide 1 1 into locking engagement with the plate 20 on the cover. When this has been done one end of the string only is grasped and pulledand the same is released entirely from the slide and removed from the box. To all intents and purposes the box provided with the described concealed lock will be like any ordinary box as none of the parts which lock it together will be visible, when the locking parts are constructed as pointed out.

The strips 15 and 16, and the strip attached to the cover are preferably composed of tou h pasteboard or other material, with the ends firmly glued to the box and cover respectively, so as to form suitable guiding or holding means.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a box comprising two box-sections, of locking means for said sections concealed in said box, and means for operating said locking means from outside said box, said operating means extending between the said sections.

2. The combination with a box comprising two box-sections, of locking means for said sections concealed 1n said box, and means for operatmg sald locking means from outside said box, said operatingmeans extending between the said sections and being entirely releasable from said box.

8. The combination with a box comprising" two box-sections, of concealed locking members mounted one on each section and one of them belng movable to lock with the other member, and flexlble operating means in releasable engagement with said movable member to move said member to locking pos1t1on.

4. The combination with a box comprising two box-sections, of concealed locking members mounted one on each section and one of them being movable to lock with the other member, and a string in releasable enga'gement with said movable member to move said member to locking posltlon, sald string extending between sald sectlons and beyond said box.

5. The combination with a box-proper and abox-like cover hinged thereto, of a locking member projecting downwardly from the inner side of the free end of said cover, a movable locking member mounted in the corresponding end of said box proper and located entirely within said box, said members being constructed for a locking engagement, and means extending to the outside of the box and releasably engaging said locking member for operc tin the same. 1 6. The comb nation with a box-proper "and a box-like cover hinged thereto, of a locking member consisting of a plate having a laterally pro ectmg catch pro] ectmg downwardly from the inner side of the free box-proper, said members being disposed for a locking engagement, and means for operating said movable locking member.

7. The combination with a box-proper and a box-likecover hinged thereto, of a plate secured to the outer end of the top portion of said cover and extending parallel with the outer end wall of said coverjust inside said wall, said platehaving a notch in one edge, a slide guided along the inner side of that end wall of said box-proper which corresponds with said end wall of said cover, a keeper on said slide raised above its inner surface and extending across the lower portion of said plate which extends below its notch, and means for operating said slide when the box is closed to move said keeper and the portion of said slide to one side of it into overlapping engagement with said lower portion of said plate.

8. The combination with a box-proper and a box-like cover hinged thereto, of a plate secured to the outer end of the top portion of said cover and extending parallel in one edge, a slide guided alon the inner side of that end wall of said ox-proper which corresponds with said end wall of said cover, a keeper on said slide raised above its inner surface and extending across the lower portion of said plate which extends below its notch, said box proper hav ing a hole in the direction of movement of said slide, and a string releasably attached to said slide, and extending through said hole and between and out from said boxproper and said cover. 1

Signed at New York city, N. Y., this 21st day of February, 1918.

ERNEST WELLS Copies of this patent may be obtained tor five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents. Washington, I). G." 

